


parselmouth

by rivkael



Series: Heaven's Misadventures 'Verse [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Angelic Grace, Death, Depressing end, Funeral, Gen, Gender Issues, Magic, Other, Time Travel, Wings, depressing start, gender is complicated, literally this is a trainwreck, literally useless time travel, this is sudden and you won't get it unless you've read everything else first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 05:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10780959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkael/pseuds/rivkael
Summary: "Ariel was like a solar eclipse; stunning, yet gone so soon."A portion of the life of the youngest angel. Fallen though they are, they make an impact.(Set in the first half of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)(cross-posted on wattpad)





	1. Prologue

Two people stood in the pouring rain in a field by a stately manor house, in front of a patch of freshly-turned earth and a small black headstone.

_Parthenope Maia Riddle_

_18th October 1945 - 6th March 1946_

_Beloved Daughter_

_"Sleep on now, and take your rest" - Matthew 26:45_

Tom Riddle was numb, standing still and listening to the patter of raindrops on the black marble. Surely someone cared that his daughter - his child, his heir, his only blood relative - was gone, snuffed out, a candle giving off smoke in a darkened room. Surely the world should have paused, the whole universe should have frozen to witness the distress, the grief at the death of his beautiful Parthenope.

Her hair had been his, her face had been his, she had had his steely stare with Lucretia's brown irises. Captivating.

Lucretia Nigella Black - his betrothed - turned to him from her place at his side, the russet eyes meeting his own of sienna, and began to talk.

Still numb, Tom was only half-aware of what she said, and what it meant.

He caught the words "...warned you... wasn't trustworthy... take it..."

The Lady Slytherin ring bounced twice, and rolled to a stop at his feet.

"I'm going to go and salvage the pieces of my life! I hope I never see you again!"

Tom fell to his knees even as her tear-stricken face apparated away, salt water flying, splattering the already soaked ground.

Tom was alone. Alone in a graveyard with the corpse of his daughter and the ring of his fiancé, never to see either of them again.

He pondered giving up, in that moment. Pondered destroying his two theoretical anchors - his family ring and his old diary - and just letting himself starve. Wander onto a landmined beach and get blown up.

Drown himself.

He fell to his hands and knees in front of the grave, shaking with silent sobs.

Unbeknownst to Tom, a couple made a decision, choosing between their children, and shaped their own lives.

_pop_

Tom paid the noise no mind. It was unimportant. His safety certainly was.

"Um, excuse me, mister?" An unfamiliar woman's voice spoke to him.

Tom's head snapped up. He rose slowly, wand in hand.

A young woman holding an infant stood in a beam of heavenly light. The rain wasn't touching her. Short dark hair cut like a man's and wise eyes.

Tom wondered if she was an angel.

"My name is Alice." She began hesitantly. Her voice echoed slightly, strangely, over the raindrops.

Tom inclined his head. "Tom."

"I - I performed a ward ritual. I am pureblooded, as is my daughter, Annabeth." She explained. "She isn't safe where we are. Please - The ritual was to find someone suitable who can protect her."

"You want me to take your child?" Tom asked, half angry, half amused. "I'm a year and a half out of school. I just lost my fiancé, and my own daughter, and the spell thinks I am the most suitable? Of all the magicals in the world?"

"The criteria was quite... specific." She said. "She is one year and three months old."

Then she stiffened, and looked around.

"What is it?" Tom asked, glancing around himself and tightening his grip on his wand.

"Frank, I'm nearly done just- Frank!" Her eyes widened in horror. "Stop it! Don't touch him!"

"Alice?"

"Take her! Care for her as if she were your own. Please!" She held the child out, and something made Tom raise his own arms and take the tightly wrapped bundle.

"I swear." He replied, a feeling of honour sweeping through him. Magic had thought he was the best to raise this child. He would prove it.

He looked up, but Alice was gone.

The dry bundle was getting rained on, the blanket slowly soaking. Her eyes opened, forget-me-not blue set in a cherubic face.

He knelt for a second, picking up the ring from where it had landed, before straightening up and, walking back towards the house, slid the ring onto the infant's largest finger.

Her eyes changed to a familiar shade of grey as she blinked at it. Tom frowned. Where had he seen that shade? _Only every time he'd looked in the mirror as a teenager idiot-_

Blood adoption activated through skin contact. Clever woman.

Tom shook his head, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, and flicked his wand.

Light bled from his wand in a straight line upwards, branching into eight horizontal lines that arched downwards. The gaps between the lines filled almost immediately, producing an umbrella made of light.

Tom held it above his head as he continued to walk.

_• • • • Fourteen years later • • • •_

"I'll be safe? Promise?" Annie was nervous, fiddling with her hair.

"I swear it. When you wake it will be to armies bowing at your feet." Tom - _now Voldemort, always Voldemort_ \- was acting like he wasn't nervous too.

"I love you too." She snorted, pressing a kiss on his cheek.

"The potion." He handed it to her. Keeping it brief, no time for emotions. "Drink it all."

"I really do love you, Da." She said, sitting down. "Goodnight." She drank the potion, and laid back.

" _Stasis humani_. Goodnight darling."

Wards sprand up, and Tom let himself shed a few tears for the world he was supposed to be saving.

The world he was destroying.

The world so corrupt he couldn't even release his daughter into it without her paying for his actions to everyone that mattered.

His little girl.

His little Annie.


	2. a wolf in sheep's clothing is more than a warning

"...First, Hermione. Knowing my mother there could be literally anything in here."

There was the sound of a door opening.

Annie's still heart stuttered to life, urged by the Stasis Accomplice potion (long shelf life, unaffected by stomach acid). Her other organs quickly awoke, the blood making it's way through her.

"Sirius, there's a _person_ here!" The female voice was near to her.

Annie took her first breath in over thirty years, and opened her eyes.

A dark room - expected.

A girl called Hermione and a man called Sirius - unexpected.

"Hello?" Annie's voice box worked just fine after all these decades. Funny.

"Umm, Hello." The girl near her said.

"Where am I?" Annie asked, lifting her head up to examine them. Her muscles hadn't wasted away either. Delightful.

"We're in a Black property." The man said warily. "Who are you?"

"Annie." She replied, now using the cover story. They had had contegency plans in place, which she had memorised, just in case. "Annie Collett. A Black property? Really?" Only Da.

"How did you get here?" Now his wand was angled at her. The Collett family was a minor pureblood family with branches all over the world.

Da had left a false paper trail, too.

"Ma must have left me here." She replied. "When I took the potion, we were at home."

"Hand us your wand, please." Sirius said. "Please don't think me rude, but we're pre-war at the moment."

"War?" She let her wand slide through her fingers so he could take the handle, and carefully passed through the magical barrier surrounding her floating pallet bed. "Don't try to use that." She warned him. "It's temperamental."

"Right."

"How can you not know about the war? It's been in the papers all year about the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"There hasn't been a tri-wizard tournament in several hundred years, due to the death toll." Annie said slowly. "What year is it? What is the date, specifically."

"How long were you under that stasis?" Sirius asked, understanding dawning on his face.

"What is the date? I can figure it out."

"July 27th, 1994." Hermione said.

"July 30th, 1960." Annie replied. "Thirty-three years, 362 days."

"Merlin! I was just a baby. I might even have been here when you arrived." Sirius said.

"Ma's speciality is runes." She answered. "She sewed them into our clothes, and even got a few tattooed on her skin. I doubt you would have seen her if she didn't want you to."

Annie crossed her legs and pulled the bedsheet out of the way so that she could reach the sewed runes on the mattress and tap the manual ward collapse.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"I'm collapsing the wards around my mattress so that I can get up properly." Annie replied, punching out M-E-R-F-O-L-K-E-A-T-E-D-F-O-O-D

The bad grammar had been her own idea. How many people expected a misspelled password to be the correct one?

"What is that? I've never seen one like that before." Hermione pointed to a black rune, strangely shaped, almost like an 'M', and far away from the rest.

Annie frowned. "That wasn't there before." She pressed the last rune and less stale air rushed to meet her. "Ah, not stale air!" She pointed to the rune. "Have you seen this before, Sirius ... Black?"

"No I haven't." He frowned himself. "And yes, this is my house, so yes, I am a Black."

"Brilliant." Annie replied. "Oh, watch for the pins and needles!" She hopped off the bed and stood there, twitching as her whole body tingled.

"How does the spell work?" Hermione asked. "If you've been lying there with no food for almost thirty-four years, shouldn't you be starving and dehydrated?"

"Well, I'm not exactly peachy." Annie looked around. "But the spell essentially bends time on a small scale, and when it ends, it's like a spring, and it bounces back to the right place. Technically, my body has been lying there for less than a week. Somewhere around here there should be a black box with a rose carved on the lid. That has the potions I will need in it."

"Is that it?" Sirius pointed to a small, dark cube with a set of navy robes thrown over it. Annie took a few shaky steps towards it.

Those robes, she recognised them.

She pulled them off and laid them on the mattress (it was now following her around and had shrunk to the size of a pillow) for later examination.

"Yes, this is it." She put her finger on the lock, and whispered the password "Merfolk eated food."

"What kind of password is that?" Hermione asked. "It's not even... hang on! That's really clever!"

"Nobody ever guesses a Collett password." Annie grinned as the box clicked open.

Lined up in the lid were five stoppered vials, containing liquids of various colours and thicknesses. They were unlabelled, but she knew which was which.

She started with the rust-coloured one on the far right. It slid down her throat easily, leaving a slimy feeling. "Eurgh." She spluttered.

"What was that?" Sirius asked, hand on wand. "I didn't recognise it."

"Family recipe." Annie replied. "It stops the Stasis Accomplice from dissolving anything inside me." she shuddered for a second at the cold feeling as it worked its way through her system.

Next was a smaller vial with black liquid in it. "This will be the worst," Annie said. "I may scream."

"Hang on-!" Too late. Annie unstoppered the vial, sat down, and tipped the thick, gloopy substance down her throat.

This was a potion to give her back her magic. The stasis accomplice potion actually pulled her magic from her, and it was currently in the air all around her, fighting to get back in. This potion simply... opened the channels.

Annie gave a small groan, and pulled her knees to her chest as it ripped at something that had been there twice as long as she had lived.

"Annie...?"

"Just - just a minute." She gasped as another wave of pain rammed through her mind and body. "Get back!" She yelped as someone tried to touch her, but was shocked by her magic as it expanded a few inches from her skin, reacting to her sudden fear.

Annie let out a relieved breath and relaxed as the magic calmed, pulling her aura back in except for the intangible wings that hung on her back, flared out.

They had appeared when she was nine, and she rather liked them. (It helped that she could fly with her father using them.)

She opened her eyes and saw Hermione and Sirius, both with their wands trained on her. "Who did I shock?" She asked. "I felt it, and I'm sorry, it was an accident. Magic gets a bit wacky if it's locked out for so long - _woah!_ " She glanced back at her wings.

 _Seven_ pairs? She'd only ever had three.

"What?"

"My core has grown." Annie explained. "My aura has evolved. Somehow, Ma managed to only put me, not my magic, into the stasis."

"What?" Sirius was confused.

"I don't get it either." Annie shrugged. "My magical core has literally expanded."

"Strange."

"Oh well." Annie stood again. "Let's see. Vitamins," she glanced at Sirius, before drinking the first one (a bright turquoise)."Body functions and ping." She quickly drank the blood-red potion.

"Ping?"

"It sends out an alert message to Ma, if she's still out there, telling her that I'm awake, and letting her home in on me." Annie explained. "Obviously, she was supposed to be the one to wake me, but if she didn't, that's the failsafe."

"Will she attempt to come and collect you?" Sirius asked, staring at the innocent, water-imitating potion.

Annie picked it up and closed the box, the lock clicking, and the vial glowed for a second, before returning to it's innocuous state. "She'll try." She affirmed. "But - am I right in guessing that there's some kind of protection ward over this house? I can't tell what it is, but it's a charm, very light magic, and it... Obscures part of the house? No..." Annie squinted. "It hides the house under a specific name!" She exclaimed triumphantly. "So, how is it hidden?"

"It's called the fidelius charm." Hermione replied eagerly. "I've been breaking it down. It's really complicated."

"Fidelius?" Annie wondered.

"Before you girls go rushing off to the library, I will need to properly interrogate you, Annie."

"Okay, sure." Annie wasn't really expecting the softly-spoken"Stupefy."


	3. as alone as a little white church in the middle of the desert getting burned

"Rennervate."

Annie opened her eyes and tried not to panic. She couldn't move anything below her neck.

"You say your name is Annie Collett." A man said. Annie blinked at him. This man was scary. Black hair, black eyes, white skin, hard glare.

"Answer me!"

Annie looked around, taking in the room. She pulled her aura into herself, tucking the wings closer to her body. She was magically tied to a chair, ankles, legs, wrists, arms and chest. Irrational feat rose in her gut, and she desperately pushed it down. It was just an interrogation.

A wand appeared in her field of vision, inches from her face, and she just barely didn't flinch. "Let's start again shall we?"

Annie focused on the wand and smiled, even though she was shivering inside. "Sorry," She offered. "Stunners make me woozy."

The man rolled his eyes. "You said your name was Annie Collett." He pressed.

"Yes, that is my name," she looked around again. They were still in the Black property, she recognised the magic. "Well, Maddison is my real first name. Maddison Annie Collett. Where's my rune mattress?" She couldn't feel its magic, which meant it wasn't within ten feet of her.

There were _spells_ on it preventing that kind of thing, damnit.

"It has been contained." The man sneered. "I suggest you co-operate."

It took all of Annie's newly-discovered acting skills not to show her fear. _She'd been noticed..._ "Okay, what do you want to know?" She said as lightly as she could.

"Who is your mother?"

"Tomasina Marise Collett, known as Tommy." Annie replied clearly, feeling the nagging feeling that came with veritaserum. They had _dosed_ her while she was out?

Her gut twisted, and she felt sick as she closed her eyes for a second. _Think!_ She licked her lips, and tasted water, then bit the inside of her cheek, tasting blood. Thank god they'd done that ritual.

Her head cleared, and the nagging went away.

"What about your father?"

"Edward Julius Riddle." This was the cover story. It was getting easier.

The man choked slightly.

Annie leaned forwards, feigning excitement. "Does it mean something to you? Do you know him?"

"The surname... is familiar."

 _Fuck_. As far as she knew, nobody knew the connection between Tom Riddle and Voldemort, but thirty-four years had passed, so who knew what had changed?

Dumbledore.

This Dumbledore had thirty-four years on the Dumbledore she knew of.

"What do you know about the organisation known as the Death Eaters?"

Annie frowned. "It's the blanket term for the minority groups of magical creatures that follow the Knight of Walpurgis - the radical political party. They include most werewolves, giants, some of the vampire clans and other sentient creatures. There are rumours of dementors joining them, but unconfirmed." She paused for breath. "Most of the creatures allied with the KoW are classified as ' _dark_ ', because as well as teaching pureblood supremancy, the KoW preach magical race/affinity equality." She paused to clear her throat. "At least, that's how it was nearly thirty-four years ago."

"Do you support the main ideas of the Knights of Walpurgis?"

Annie frowned again, brow furrowing. "I support the idea of magical equality." She replied, "But there have never been proper, unbiased studies of magical verses muggle blood. The KoW are fighting for an idea based on someone deciding they were better. That's how the war started. I don't have a partictular stance on blood purity issues, but my Da was a muggleborn and Ma says he was quite powerful, and his blood was just as red as ours." So were his eyes, technically.

The black eyed man paused, then tried to get her to look in his eyes again.

Annie frowned and met his eyes for a moment, then immediately looked away, sucking in a breath. She had felt the poke in her head, and... **no**.

"Legimency on a minor is illegal." She said aloud, trying to calm down, control her breathing.

"You were born almost fifty years ago. You're not a minor." He attempted to justify it. "And you were tresspassing."

"I'm fifteen years old!" Annie cried angrily, fear temporarily forgotten. "And how can it be tresspassing if I am trapped here? There are wards around this house, I can't leave." Her wings flared out, the invisible magical manifestations showing her anger.

He backed down slightly, as if he could sense them.

"What do you know about the Order of the Phoenix?" the man asked.

"Hearsay and rumour. Nothing concrete." Annie replied, feathers flattening down again, reciting the cover slowly. "An organisation run by Headmaster Dumbledore to combat the Death Eaters and protect the innocent muggle and magical civilians. Generally seen as the 'light' magic supporters."

"Have you ever taken part in violent demonstrations by the KoW and Death Eaters?"

"I have never!" Annie didn't need to act indignant. She wasn't the sort of person for violence, _ever_. "Ma wouldn't let me out of the house if they were near."

"Did either of your parents?"

"No! Da was dead before they even started, and Ma... Ma always locked us inside when they were 'demonstrating'."

"Have you ever killed someone?"

"No!"

"What is your opinion on the factions of magic?"

"They're all dangerous in their own way. Think of it as Heaven, Hell and Purgatory." Annie's favourite metaphor. "Hell is where you burn, but remember that Archangels have the power to smite you from existence. Purgatory is where the monsters that can't die are sent. Don't underestimate any of them. Dark magic is to do with making deals for more power, Light magic is about _taking_ power, and neutral, or grey magic, is about protecting yourself, using what you've got rather than getting more. Dark is Attack, Grey is questionable incapacitation and Light is defense."

The man was stunned, Annie could see it. She stretched her magic out carefully, looking for her wand, and located it, several rooms away in some kind of holding box.

"What affinity is your magic?"

"Grey, leaning dark." Annie replied easily. That was probably what they expected, what with the Collett line affinity being mildly dark.

"What do you know of a wizard known as the Dark Lord?"

"Lord Voldemort, Lord Slytherin, Lord of Dark Magic," Annie began. "Dark Magic affinity, leader of the KoW and the Death Eaters. Dark hair, red eyes, snake familiar. A genius with no known family. Closest assosciates include Abraxas Malfoy, Veritas Rowle and possibly Eris Gamp. Creepy, and powerful. Known for the use of unforgivable curses, and the symbol of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Main rival probably Albus Dumbledore. Supports isolationist views and hates muggles."

The man nodded. "Thank you." He reached into his robes and pulled out a vial, which's contents he poured into Annie's mouth. "Truth serum antidote." He explained when she refused to swallow.

She nodded, and swallowed the (defunct) antidote. "So, why are you so keen on security?" She asked "Did Ma manage to stumble on a future Order safehouse or something?" At the man's nod, she snorted. "Blacks? Helping the Order of the phoenix?"

"The current Black did have a twelve-year stint in Azkaban for mass-murder, no matter how much he professes his love of the light."

Annie stared. "Only twelve years? For mass murder? You're letting him walk around?"

The man shrugged. "It is his house." he said, like that explained everything. "And he's innocent. Plus he escaped Azkaban by himself."

"Excaped!" Annie was ever so slightly flabberghasted. "How on earth?"

"Something to do with his unrgistered animagus form..." The man said disdainfully and re-drew out his wand. "Finite incantatem."

Annie let out a relieved breath as the bonds holding her to the chair dissolved. "Well, as nice as that was, I still don't know your name. It's polite for a gentleman to introduce themselves before they feed the lady potions and attempt to assault her mind, you know, but then again," She bounced to her feet, wings flaring out with adrenaline.

"Severus Snape" he muttered, going to the door. "If you go to Hogwarts, I'll likely be your potions professor."

"Okay." Annie pulled her wings inwards a bit, itching to fly. "Does this house have a garden?"

"No." They left the room. "Go and find Miss Granger or something. She's probably that way upstairs."

"Alright." Annie took a few steps towards the stairs, then changed direction and followed the thin, stretched, lead of magic connecting her mattress to herself.

She followed it up two floors and into a room. "Oh, Merlin!" It was chained down with some kind of magical ropes, and struggling weakly. "What did they do to you?" As she approached, it stopped wriggling, the connection not being stretched. " _Contained_ indeed." She muttered, examining the chains. 'Okay, I'll get you out, just hold still." The pillow-sized mattress followed mattress tradition, and didn't reply.

Annie began running her fingers across the ropes, pulling the fibres apart with magic. "Calm down, I'm geting you out." The mattress contained a small amount of sentience, and its magic was confused and frustrated.

After it was free, it _dashed_ (if mini-matresses can dash) to Annie and practically smothered her. "Hey, hey - relax!" She laughed as it landed on her and nearly knocked her over. "Did you see where they put my box? or my wand?" the mattress began exuding feelings of guilt. "No, it's not your fault - did you see where they put them?"

The mattress climbed off her and pushed it's own magic in front of it a bit, creating a werelight. Annie grinned and stood up, following the light out of the room, and into the room opposite, where a visible ward contained her box and her wand on a cushion.

"Hm." Annie said, examining the patterns on the surface. "Simple enough. Can you hole it?"

The mattress shot a beam of light at the ward and a hole appeared in it. Feelings of pride enveloped its magic.

"Thank you." Annie grunted as she reached in for her wand. "Ahhh." Blue smoke puffed from the tip. "A bit wider?"

The Mattress shot a few more beams of light at the ward, and the hole widened. Annie reached in and retrieved her box.

"Brilliant," She patted it, then stood up. "Let's go find somewhere quiet."


	4. so come out of your cave walking on your hands

Annie picked up the rune mattress and tapped the shrink rune that lived on the underside, then tucked it in her pocket. She did the same with her box.

Two flights of stairs up, she sat down outside a library and thought.

It was quiet, good for thinking.

Annie wondered whether she should 'ping' her Pa. It might bring down the whole organisation and the wards. She didn't really want to fight in the war, but if she let her Pa into his enemies' base, she'd be declaring a side.

"Who're you?" There was a young man, a ginger, standing on the stairs. A second, identical ginger was sitting a few steps further back, fiddling with his wand and something brightly coloured.

Annie started, and turned around. "Annie Collett, you?"

"I'm Fred, he's George." The one at the front said, jerking a thumb at his twin (they had to be twins), who nodded, but kept concentrating.

Annie stood up and leaned closer. "What are you doing?"

George looked at Fred. Fred looked at George. "Do you promise not to tell any adults?" Fred asked.

"Sure, as long as you don't plan to hurt anyone with it." She agreed. "What is it? Are you altering the composition or something?"

"We're starting up a joke shop, and this," George held up the thing, which seemed to be a fruit chew. "Is one of our products. Part of the skiving snackbox range."

"It's a range of sweets which make you ill - not really ill, just enough to get you out of class." Fred explained. "You eat one end, and faint, or get a fever, or whatever, then you eat the other, and get better once you're in the hospital wing."

"Clever." Annie said admiringly. "Can I have a look at the spells?"

"Don't you have the Trace? You look a bit young to be doing magic outside school." Fred asked, digging in his pocket.

"My wand doesn't have the Trace and neither do I." Annie 'explained'. "I was homeschooled, and it's a family wand."

Fred shrugged. "Well, here, I've got a Ton-Tongue Toffee, one of the first we ever invented. It's quite simple." He offered her a wrapped sweet, a bit warm and squashy from his pocket.

She took it, pulled out her rosewood wand, and focused her magic for a detection ward. "Wow, this is amazing work!" She exclaimed softly as coloured lights flashed above the sweet. "Genius! The engorgement charm - combined with Anapneo, and that's just the main mesh! How did you slide them together like that? I'd've thought they would be volatile in such close quarters. Hang on, you - oh, that's so clever!" She looked back up at them.

Fred was watching her with something like amusement, while George was tapping his wand to his sweet. Annie thought for a second before handed the sweet back. "You guys are geniuses."

"Well, what would you expect from twins?" Fred slid the toffee back into his pocket. "We share thoughts half the time, so double the brain power." He paused. "Where are you from?"

The house creaked around them, and Annie glanced around, but nothing seemed to have moved. "Scotland, but I was born in Yorkshire." She answered, fiddling with her wand. Blue and white threads of light trailed from the tip. "What about you?"

"Ottery St Catchpole." One of them said proudly. "It's a village in the middle of the Devon countryside. We've got six acres of land and an orchard."

"It sounds lovely. You must miss it." Annie watched the blue and white ribbons plait themselves together, then twitched her wand for them to dissolve. "It doesn't seem like you'd get outside much here."

Gold streamers and confetti drifted out next. Annie watched as they did a little dance before forming into a butterfly.

"How are you doing that?" She glanced over to see both of them watching her wand as it trailed light through the air.

"It's just a fidget." Annie shrugged. "Good training for control of my magic." The butterfly perched on her knee, then exploded into silent, heatless fireworks. "But I've also always been able to do it. It's my _thing_."

She spread her wings for balance as she leaned forward slightly, avoiding a dark aura she could feel spiking in the library. Cursed objects weren't something she was comfortable dealing with without her father.

Red witch-lights began bubbling out of her wand, the rosewood seeming to glow from the pits of the runes along the side. They formed a circle, then flew upwards, resizing until they formed a scale model of the solar system.

"And, go." Annie whispered. The red planets began spinning and orbiting the sun, which lazily moved away from her, the whole system fading as it went.

She turned back to see the twins staring again.

She gave a nervous smile. "It's just a habit?"

"Just a _habit_?" George asked incredulously. "If I was that good at magic I'd make people pay for demonstrations!"

Annie gripped her wand tighter, uncomfortable. "Its just a fidget." She repeated quietly. Her wings drew closer to her body, feathers ruffling, tense. Both protecting her and ready to fight.

She closed her eyes and sat down properly, spreading her legs wide and leaning forward so she could draw on the floor with the tip of her wand.

"Hey, don't get upset." Fred patted her shoulder.

"I'm not, I just - "Annie paused and wondered how to tell someone that you feel like you should never be the centre of attention because of the _danger_ that comes with it. It was something she'd never been able to shake, the idea that she was living on borrowed time and if the wrong person noticed, she'd be _dead_. "I don't like crowds, I don't like showing off, I definitely don't want people noticing me for anything unusual. It would put me on lists I can't afford to be on."

The twins watched her as she drew a feather in light on the rug, cold orange sparks trailing from her fingers and a faint white light glowing in her eyes.


	5. my songs know (what you did in the dark)

_There was holy fire and it was so very hot, oh why had ne left, why had ne bothered, surely it wasn't worth THIS_

_Nothing was worth this_

**_Nothing was worth this_ **

_Painpainpain agony and gaps where there should not be gaps-_

_Grace-infused metal_ **_within_ ** _nem, moving nir_ **_insides_ ** _-_

_"Say hi for me, eh?"_

_Grace trickling out onto the floor. Yellow feathers going up in smoke. "_ **_Please_ ** _!"_

_Pure unadulterated pain and then blessed darkness._

Annie woke with a start. It was dark, and she couldn't hear a thing. She reached for the side table, desperate for light after the horrible dream-

What had it been about again? She picked up her wand and cast _illuminare_ into air. A small, pulsing witchlight flew from the tip and hovered above the palm of her hand.

It wasn't enough. Shadows danced over the walls as she flicked her hair back over her shoulders. She pulled the duvet up so it was tucked fully around her legs.

Phantom pains echoed in her wings, her magical aura which seemed to have expanded again. Eight pairs fluttered anxiously through the wall behind her.

Annie shuffled forwards a bit and made the witchlight brighter until she could hardly look at it. It wasn't fire, so it would do.

There.

Now she could see.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." She whispered to herself. Just a _nightmare_ , more like.

The witchlight flickered, and suddenly images of feathers appeared, moving upwards in the small globe and dissolving into nothing when they reached the edge.

"Extinguiare." She whispered, and dived back under the covers away from the spontaneous divination. "It was just a dream."

She lay there for a while, trying to fall asleep, but then became aware of light creeping around the curtains of her window. That meant it was already about four in the morning. "Merlin!" She exclaimed quietly, and used her wand to flick the curtains open.

Bright, early-morning sunlight streamed in. Annie basked in it for a few moments, then slid out of her bed, grabbing for her warm blue dressing gown and swinging it over her shoulders as she stepped into her slippers.

The library beckoned.

Annie pushed her door open, allowing the light behind her to spill into the hallway. She'd been put in a bedroom labelled 'Arcturus', next door to Hermione, and the twins' sister, Ginny.

She slid her arms into the dressing gown sleeves, and tied the ties, creeping slowly down the hallway. The library was directly below her, one floor down, so she had to walk down a set of stairs in the dark.

(She didn't doubt there were portraits watching out for movement, but her excuse was she was looking for the bathroom. The fact that the nearest bathroom was just past the library was purely coincidental.)

She walked carefully down the stairs, stretching her wings down to feel for each step before continuing. It was slow, but it worked. She made it all the way down.

The dark aura of the library was comforting as she approached, but the various cursed books were not. Curses weren't dark or light, they were red and purple, a different kind of magic altogether. Annie had never liked looking at that kind of magic. Da had said she wasn't to touch it until she reached magical majority at _least_.

Annie smiled tightly, and pulled her wings in closer to her body, putting her hand on the handle.

She wasn't surprised when an alarm tried to sound, but she'd already soothed it with her magic, convincing it that it hadn't actually sounded, that there wasn't anyone here who shouldn't be.

She opened the library and slid inside, shutting the door behind her.

It was so _Dark_ in here. She spread her wings carefully, basking in the sticky, cold feeling of dark magic that clung to them as they passed. It was _delicious_.

Right. Down to business. She held her wand flat on her palm. "Great Wizarding events of the twentieth century." Annie said, and watched a beam of blue light shoot out of her wand to a book on a nearby table, which lit up, glowing blue in the slightly too deep darkness. "Accio." She grabbed the book as it landed and slipped back out of the library.

"What might you be doing in there, young lady?"

Annie froze, looking around. A thin wizard with a Lumos charm and pyjamas had just come out of the toilet, and was eyeing her with suspicion. "I had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep." She said quickly. "I wanted to - well." She held out her book to the man so he could see the cover.

The man took a few steps closer, and blew out a breath, glare softening."Okay, then. Just don't go in there without an adult again, okay? There's some dangerous curses in that library."

"I know." Annie replied, blue magic dropping from her wand and splashing on the floor. "Trust me when I say I'm nowhere near helpless against curses. I know how to avoid them."

The man sighed again, and went to the stairs, Annie following. "I'm Remus Lupin." He said. "I'm guessing you're Annie?"

"Annie Collett." She replied, smiling slightly. and putting a hand on the bannister as he walked past to a room labelled 'Alphard'. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The door of his room clicked shut behind him.

Annie climbed the stairs leaving footprints of golden light. Her wings fluttered, then suddenly she fell forwards as a two new pairs suddenly grew from her back. Ten pairs now.

She was breathing heavily when she came back to herself, yellow magic weaving its way around her fingers. Her book and wand were on the floor beside her, and her wings hung limply, as though tired.

She quickly scooped them both up and slid into her room, wings twitching.

The light had increased. How long had she been in the hallway?

She opened the book, trying to calm the yellow light which still streamed around her hands.

1960's first...


	6. the water's sweet but blood is thicker

"Annie!" She'd been sitting in the kitchen as far from the fire as she could get for the last two afternoons, working her way through various history books provided by Remus and Sirius.

It was truly enlightening and shocking to see how far the Wizarding world had gotten since she'd last been awake. Exactly nowhere. In fact, it had _regressed_. Industry had stagnated. Muggle inventions were no longer being integrated. Populations were shrinking as more and more Purebloods refused to marry anyone but Purebloods and their children were born squibs or infertile or short-lived. Nobody seemed to know about Heaven, Hell and Purgatory anymore. A generation had grown up under Dumbledore, and that generation was ignorant and prejudiced.

Annie looked up. "Yes, Mrs Weasley?" Evening light shone through the high window, casting an orange ray that dust spiralled through.

The Weasley Matriarch been nice enough once she was sure Annie wasn't here to kill anyone. "We've got to have an emergency meeting, dear. Could you go upstairs?"

Annie closed the book and stood up. "Sure." She tucked her wand behind her ear before heading out past the people who were walking in. She stayed outside the wall until only Remus was still there, and aimed her tongue at Snape's back before heading for the stairs. Snape hadn't been in the least bit polite to her in the one short conversation they'd had since her interrogation.

"Annie?" Remus called to her. She turned back around. "Where're the other kids?"

"Uh, Hermione, Ginny and Ron are dusting the third floor hallway, and the twins'll be on the stairs." Annie pointed upwards. "Why?"

"Tell them Harry's been attacked by dementors, and he's safe now, but the ministry's trying to expel him for underage magic and breaking the Statute of secrecy. He used the patronus charm in front of his muggle cousin to protect them both." Annie put one hand over her mouth. She'd stayed away when her Da had been dealing with the dementors, but he'd alway come away shaken - though he hid it.

"Are they both alright? I've heard dementors are nasty."

"Yes, they got away, but Harry's not out of the water yet. We're having an emergency meeting. Tell the other kids, would you?"

Annie nodded and began walking up the stairs as Remus closed the kitchen door.

"Guys!" she called. "Everyone!"

The twins peered over the bannister two flights up. "We're all up here, Annie!" One of them called. Annie could tell the difference between them, but only up close. George was a bit shorter and skinnier, he had a freckle just below his eye, and his hair was slightly longer.

"Tell them I've got news on Harry!" She shouted back, climbing as fast as she could.

She was out of breath by the time she reached the whole group, and sat on the step, gesturing for the others to do the same around her.

"Okay, Remus told me this, and this is all I know; Harry's been attacked by dementors, and he's okay, but he used the Patronus charm and his muggle cousin saw. The Ministry of Magic is now trying to expel him for underage magic and magic in front of a muggle. The order's having an emergency meeting now."

There was silence for a second, then-

"Merlin!" several people exclaimed, then they all began speaking at once. Annie stood still, waiting for people to make sense. Hermione ran for her room, muttering about underage magic laws. The twins bent their heads together, and Ron and Ginny both tried to ask question after question.

Annie clapped her hands, amplifying the sound to make them listen. "Hey!"

Ron and Ginny closed their mouths.

"That's _all_ I know." Annie said, sliding back so she was leaning against the wall and flipping the book open once more. "So talk to each other, not me. I'm just the messenger."

(Something in her protested that - she couldn't possibly be The Messenger, she wasn't important enough. She was used to ignoring that sort of thing.)

They headed off, and Annie began reading once again.

(-<•>-<•>-<•>-<+>-<•>-<•>-<•>-)

Someone began shouting, an unfamiliar male voice a floor or two below where Annie and the twins were sitting. "Harry's back." Fred said, grinning and jumping to his feet, the others following.

"Is that him yelling?" Annie asked, trying to make out words as white magic trailed from her fingers like an afterimage. Feathers kept drifting across her mind, so she traced the outline of one in the air.

"That's Harry alright. He's got a real temper if you make him bottle it up." George laughed. "We're going to apparate down there, do you want to come?"

Annie shrugged. "Sure. I want to see what all the fuss is about." She stopped the white magic and held out her hand to take the offered arm, which belonged to Fred.

"You apparated before?"

"I'm not some muggle-born!" She exclaimed with mock offence. "How do you think Ma took us shopping? We lived in the middle of nowhere with no Floo connection!"

"Okay, okay." Fred patted her on the head, then at some unseen signal, the twins both apparated.

Annie watched them all interact, fine with observing and not interfering for now. Ginny shot her a glance, but they were all focused on Harry.

Annie watched him too. He was quite short, with messy black hair and round glasses. A thin scar sat above green eyes, taking the distinctive lightning bolt shape she'd read about.

He wore a plain t-shirt and jeans that were baggy on his thin frame, and ratty trainers that might've been white once.

He was angry, Annie could see that much, and he was taking deep shallow breaths, wand clenched in one hand. She could see his goldgreen magic dancing invisibly around him, almost as powerful as her own despite the fact that his was so much younger.

(There was something to him - something older that anything she could even comprehend-)

Annie would admit that she was entranced for a moment, like a fly caught in a spiderweb, firmly tied up and about to be drained of life, and so she missed part of the conversation.

Not that she was joining in anyway, to be fair. At least, not until-

"Who're you, anyway?" He was looking at her, standing halfway behind Fred and watching.

Annie opened her mouth to speak but Fred beat her to it, pulling her into the light with a hand on her arm. "Annie Collett, magical extraordinare!" He introduced with a flourish.

Annie grinned at Fred before turning back to Harry. "Hi, you must be Harry." When he didn't reply, she continued. "You're probably wondering what the hell is going on, right?"

He gave a small nod.

"And why I'm here when you've never met me before yet I'm the same age as you?"

Another nod.

"Its a long story involving time travel (only not really). Gather round, my children, and I shall tell you a tale..." Annie intoned dramatically.

Several people snorted, but they all sat down as she dimmed the lights slightly to begin.

"My name is Annie Collett and I was born more than forty years ago..."


	7. the beginning of the end

They were clearing out cabinets in the living room, looking things over and throwing them in a rubbish sack if Sirius (the owner) didn't want them.

Annie had so far stolen a few charmed objects including a music box that made you feel sleepy when you heard it play, and a Black signet ring, which she'd taken when she realised it was an actual Gringotts artefact.

Then came a locket which nobody could open, and Annie realised what was in it, and slid it up her sleeve.

Her Da's locket! This was a family relic and his 'tie' to life! How had it ended up here?

Annie excused herself to go to the bathroom a minute later, and sat on the toilet seat, contemplating. This made pinging her Da all the more urgent - something like this couldn't stay here, in the headquarters of the _Order of the Phoenix._

What if they noticed? What if-

Annie swallowed, then put the locket into her pocket, before flushing the toilet for effect and heading back in time to steal a hairpin with a razor sharp edge and Slytherin colours.

(-<•>-<•>-<•>-<+>-<•>-<•>-<•>-)

"Here goes." Annie opened her bedroom window. It looked out on the street, so logically, she'd be able to climb out.

Suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder, and Fred spoke, ignoring her flinch. "You're leaving, then?"

"I have to." Annie replied, turning around and accepting the double hug from the twins. "Ma's waited long enough. I can't stay and attend Hogwarts while I still have family alive. It wouldn't be fair, on me or her."

"Well, you're not getting out that way. There's wards. We'll give you a lift." George replied. "I found a couple of good brooms in a cupboard this evening."

He produced three broomsticks, and Annie could only marvel. "Silver Arrows! They're still the best broom on the market and there's only four hundred and thirteen in existence!" she exclaimed quietly.

"There were nine of them." Fred explained, going to her window and holding the broom outside, before swinging out into the air.

"We're going to keep these two and sell the rest." George handed Annie a broom, and she checked all her stuff was secure in her pockets before following him out of the window. The handling on the vehicle was astoundingly light, and it had a brilliant turning speed.

A short woman stepped forward, shrouded in the shadows of the room that the three had just left. Gold (- _sunshinethroughabottleofwhiskey_ -) eyes narrowed, a smile quirking her lips as she watched the teenagers for a moment. "Get going, sweetheart. Aunt Gabby sends you all the best." She muttered, before vanishing back into the darkness.

They hovered over the park outside the house. "Where to, then?" Fred asked, soaring closer. It was a bright night, the moon lighting their faces as much as the muggle lights were.

"Can you apparate me near to your home?" Annie asked after a moment. "You're in the countryside, aren't you? If there's an issue, there needs to be space."

They landed, and all joined hands. "Here goes."

The squeezing sensation engulfed Annie, and she pulled her wings close.

They hit the ground hard, and all fell to the floor. "Whoops." George laughed after catching his breath. "My fault. No-one splinched?"

"Not me." Fred and Annie chimed back in unison, then glanced at each other and grinned.

"Good. Now, Annie. Do we have to leave while you do your thing?"

Annie nodded. "It's not safe for you to be near. Its all invisible, but the magic can hurt you."

"Well, then. I guess this is goodbye." George said awkwardly.

"Hugs?" Fred asked, then pulled Annie in again before she could reply. She hugged both twins gladly, absorbing their body heat and memorising their smells, knowing she'd likely never hug them again.

"Thank you, both of you." She said. "I'm sorry if you get in trouble for helping me out."

George shrugged as he pulled back. "You weren't happy. We wanted to help."

Annie grinned. "Well, I might see you sometime, somewhere. Tell the others... tell them I'm sorry I left so abruptly. I was homesick, and I get claustrophobia. I was choking in that house, suffocating..."

"Merlin." George exclaimed. "You're okay now, though?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah, thanks." She had to stop herself from reaching for her wand - unnecessary magic would be a burden right now. "You guys ought to leave. Bye." she said quietly.

"Goodbye, Annie." George and Fred said as one before they vanished with a _crack_.

Annie took a deep breath and smoothed out her robes, before reaching into her pocket, and pulling out the ping.

A few hills over, a girl with some very strange binoculars was peering out of the window. She watched the twins vanish, leaving her winged quarry alone. The spy whispered something to the air, and an androgynous child stood to look also, blonde hair framing their pale face. A second child, almost identical to the first, appeared in the room too, face pressed right up against the window.

Annie used magic to vanish the cork, and then downed the ping. At once, dark magic flared next to light magic. Annie pressed a hand to her mouth as the power ripped through her core, spreading through the wings and exploding outwards, sliding seamlessly through the atoms of her body and lighting up the landscape. White spots exploded all over her vision and she fell to her hands and knees.

A few hundred miles away, a man stood up, hissed something to the snake beside him, and disappeared with a _crack._

"Annie!" He called as soon as he landed in the swirling maelstrom of magic. Reaching out with his own power - his own wings - he dulled the magic until he could see her. "Annabeth!"

"Da!" he turned towards the voice, and used his many wings to propel himself closer, running and jumping towards her. "Da!"

"Annabeth! I'm coming, darling!" He called, and suddenly he stumbled on her, standing in a slightly lowered stance against the buffeting magic only they could feel.

"Da!" She leaped into his open arms, and the magic suddenly stilled. All was silent. His wings enveloped hers, and he buried his face in her hair as she hugged him tightly.

"It's been so long, Annie." He murmured, running his hands down her arms as he stepped back to looked her up and down. "Who woke you? What happened?"

"The house I was in was set under a Fidelius Charm." Annie explained, reaching into her pocket. "Because it was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

"I though something of the sort." He said, and his magic lashed around them, burning the grass in a strange shape.

"Come on, Da. Let's go. I have so much to ask you!" Annie pulled out the horcrux from her pocket. "Like how did _this_ end up in the Black family house?" The locket spun on its chain, far heavier than it looked.

Lord Voldemort looked at his decoy (part of his Master Plan - " _oh Albus, you think you're so clever_ "), closed his eyes, and breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth. Twice. "Back to the house." He held out an arm for her, and Annie took it, falling back into their old habits. Their wings blended together, and they spun through the air, landing with nary a sound in the exact place he had disapparated from barely a minute before.

The three people in the house on the hill looked at each other. "He's alive!" One child exclaimed. "Raph, Luna... It's all coming together."

"I can see it." The older girl finished. "It's going to be wonderful. Not just Him but all those that can be saved are being led. Even the nargles are excited."

The other child shook their head fondly. "You and your nargles, Luna." They patted the girl's hand. "Thank you for letting us see."

Then the two children exited the room. Luna was left alone, and she happily put the binoculars down and went back to her scroll of parchment, where she began to write once again.


	8. could you be the devil (could you be an angel)

Annie kept her hands in her Da's even after they landed in a familiar, if altered, room, and he made no move to let her go. "Da... I missed you so much." She hugged him, pressing her head against his neck, digging her hands into the base of his wings.

Then she stopped. "Da? Your wings have changed." They were bigger, stronger, more solid? She leaned back, looking at his face. "Da?"

"I remembered part of myself." He said. "Annie, I know why we have wings!" He pulled her to the sofa and they sat. Annie dropped the locket onto the coffee table and curled next to him, leaning into his body heat.

"You do? What is it?"

Tom frowned for a second. "Where to begin?" he asked himself, bringing a huge wing to sit around hers.

"The beginning?" Annie suggested.

"No, that wouldn't work." He disagreed. "It gets too confusing." He thought for a minute, while Annie looked around, examining the room. It was more spartan than she was used to - her Da seemed to have removed the oldest furniture and replaced it with less resplendent pieces.

"Annie. you remember church? We used to go on Sundays." Annie nodded. She remembered. "Their Holy Book, the Bible, mentions angels. There are paintings and stained glass windows of the winged messengers and warriors in churches and cathedrals across the world."

"Okay...?" Annie squinted, recalling the beautiful paintings and windows she'd loved as a child.

"When I tried to kill Harry Potter, the killing curse reflected back at me. I saw my life flash before my eyes, and in some kind of reflex, I apparated out before it hit me. However, it wasn't apparition. I left my clothes, wand, and everything I had on me behind.

"I landed by a tree." Tom swallowed. "Naked in a clearing in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. I wasn't scared in the slightest, though, for some reason." He paused again, and ran a hand gently over Annie's hair. "It makes sense if I think about it, though."

Annie blinked. "Keep going." she encouraged. When her Da got introspective, he often trailed off.

"Lets talk about angels." Tom said suddenly. "An angel is basically a soul, with wings. Everything that makes them an angel is contained in a power, called Grace. Grace is produced by the wings of an angel, exponentially depending in how much they contain. You following?"

Annie nodded. She felt like she knew all this already, but couldn't recall the source.

"So, an angel has Grace. Imagine they can rip out that Grace, and fall to earth. When they do so, they are reborn in a human. The Grace integrates with a tree, which recives the small amount of Grace that the angel's wings are still producing.

"The human angel is drawn to this tree, following the invisible pull it gives out to only them. When they get really close to the tree, their memories return. When they touch the tree, their Grace does." he swallowed again, adam's apple bobbing in his pale throat. "I didn't touch my tree. I couldn't bear to. It would've left me useless for hours, in which time I could've been captured by the Heavenly Host."

"Heaven?" Annie asked, head spinning. Her Da was an angel. "They're supposed to be the good guys!"

"But they're not." He sighed. "I am too cowardly, Raphael is both unmotivated and backed into a corner, Gabriel might be dead, Rivkael's tree stood next to mine - my sibling attends Hogwarts, actually. I had to save nem a few years ago when ne reclaimed nir Grace by accident - and Sammael is gone."

"Da." Annie leaned close to him, feeling his wings. "What of Michael?" She looked him in the face, and then she realised.

Tom's eyes flashed with sadness. "I remembered who I was, before." He said quietly. "I remembered what he had no wish to know. Heaven is a terrible place, one I would wish on no angel."

Annie closed her eyes. "So you are him? Saint Michael the archangel? Why can't you go back? Surely they aren't powerful enough to force you to forget again?"

Her Da's arms tensed around her. "First, it's Mîkhā'ēl, not Michael, although I don't really feel I deserve my given name, given how I have failed in my duty. I don't have my Grace, and I am lucky to not have claimed it." He said slowly, the words unsure on his tongue. "When an angel reclaims their Grace after Falling, they must purge some of it immediately into the surrounding area. This purging will not only render them unconscious for a minimum of ten hours, but makes them unable to fly for a matter of weeks. It also send out a huge beacon to angels - an archangel of my power would be felt in Heaven. I would have been completely at _Her_ mercy, and back to being a perfect soldier before the week was gone." Tom spat the word out, half angry, half afraid. "I was extremely lucky with my sibling - I was nearby anyway, and felt one of my proximity wards go off. I had to care for nem for almost a week, and ne couldn't go back to Hogwarts for longer than that - it was being scoured and searched by the Host."

Annie crept even closer, sharing their body heat and tangling her wings through his to remind him he wasn't alone. "You can't go back, okay. What have you been doing, then?" She asked. "You haven't really been an active presence."

"Mostly swapping out my 'Horcruxes'." he shrugged. "I created a construct of 'Lord Voldemort', who has mock-ups of all my Containers for himself. I've been swapping mine for his. He will face Potter, and he will be killed by Potter. I want nothing more to do with the whole affair."

Annie snorted. "So you'll be wanting that." She pointed to the locket that lay innocently on the table where she'd left it.

"And thank Merlin you found it." he said, smiling lightly. "A decoy was provided in the cave. The one to retrieve the original and place it... where you found it, was most likely Regulus Black."

Annie settled down, ready to hear a tale.

There was a knock at the door, and before her Da could answer, it was flung open. Annie startled, and Tom caught her before she could slide off the sofa, as a man entered the room.

He was unlike any man Annie had ever seen. His head was hairless, the skin a sickly green-white. His thin body was swathed in dark robes and his face had a reptilian look about it. The nose was so flat it was merely two slits in his face, and his eyes gleamed a malicious red. Annie eyed him - he wasn't ugly so much as exotic and inhuman.

Annie's Da sat up straighter, and pulled her close so that she didn't look. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Voldemort?"

Voldemort's voice was smooth like a water snake in a stream. "I wished to speak with you." he said. "About the ownership of this manor."

Annie's Da relaxed. "If you want it, you can have it." he waved an arm lazily. Annie wriggled off his lap, but did not look at Voldemort. "However, we _will_ be staying."

Voldemort considered. "I would like this manor, but you are welcome to stay." he decided easily, watching the pair with interest.

"Certainly. Oh, Voldemort? This is my daughter, the one I informed you about? She is not to be touched." Tom's voice was like steel. Annie grinned at him, before flicking her hair over her shoulder and turning to Voldemort. She stood, and curtseyed. "Voldemort." she greeted.

"Annabeth." he replied. "I see he has found you, then?" Annie sat back down, leaning into her Da's warmth.

"Yes. It all worked out." Annie's Da agreed.

Voldemort stood there for a moment longer, watching them, then turned and stalked out. Annie noticed his feet were bare, considered it, then shrugged to herself. Everyone had their weird things.

The door snapped shut on a core of magic similar - but not identical - to her Da's. She turned to face him. "He's strange."

"In what way?"

"I can see you in him, in a way, even in that short conversation. But he's different too. He's a possible you, if some things went different. I guess he has some of your memories?"

Tom nodded. "Yes. All of my school years, and pretty much my whole childhood, then a twenty year gap in which I had you and Parthenope, then all necessary - by that I mean all lessons I needed him to learn and plans I needed him to know about - memories up until the Potter incident. I made the rest, built him a homunculus body, and set him loose just over a year ago, with instructions to die when necessary."

"That's sad." Annie said. "You created him to die."

Tom blinked. "He's an abomination of nature, Annie. He has to die."


	9. evil be thou my good

"He's you!" Annie said passionately. "He's a possible you! You can't just abandon him like this? He's like- like your little brother, or even your son!" Annie stood up, looking down at her Da. "You created a life, you're responsible for him. Give him a failsafe! A way out! For Merlin's sake, imagine that he's me!" she turned and left the room, leaving Tom sat on the sofa while she stormed through the halls until she reached the library - which she entered.

Voldemort was standing within, pulling a few books off the shelves. "Annabeth." He greeted.

"Do you want to die?" Annie asked, approaching him. "Da says you're going to die."

The man shook his head. "Of course I don't want to die, but it is my purpose." he said quietly.

"But what if you didn't have to?"

Voldemort looked at her, an amused smile crossing his features. " _If_ you could find a way, then I would take it." He informed her, putting three books in a stack and then going to the nearest desk.

" _Strategy of the revolutionary_." Annie read from the side of one book.

"It's my war now." Voldemort agreed.

"Why, though? You're not the dark lord, you're just a man, a creation. Have you had any say in the matter?" Annie asked, eyeing the other stacks of books on the desk. 'Magyk Moste Evile' was there, as was 'Salazar's Storye' and 'Song of a Slytherin'. He'd been researching immortality. "How many horcruxes have you made?"

"Only one has stuck, so far." Voldemort shuddered slightly. "It's been unpleasant." He concluded, looking at his fingers and then rubbing the side of his head with one hand.

"Which one? I can help you reclaim it, should you wish."

"I think it's better for me to have one, to be honest." Voldemort said. "I just put it in a different place than Mîkhā'ēl expected me to. Not even he can kill me without destroying that as well." Now Voldemort smiled, and it was wistful, not happy. "I want to live, Annie, but how can I live when I look like _him_?"

"That's easy." Annie scoffed. "Come with me to Hogwarts and apparate me out once I've got my Grace back. Then I'll be able to alter your body." She didn't know how she knew this, but it was true.

Voldemort looked stunned. "Isn't that incredibly dangerous?" He asked.

Annie nodded. "Hey, I want to."

"You'd do that for me?"

"You are my sort-of-baby-brother." Annie grinned. "I'd be neglecting my big sister duties if I didn't try to help you."

"Big sister?" Voldemort contemplated. "Huh."

\-----

-

\-----

"I pray to the archangel Rivkael, and ask that ne joins me. I ask as the child of Mîkhā'ēl and an angel in my own right. Rivkael, sibling, please. I need you."

Annie took Voldemort's hand. "Ne may not like the sight of you." She warned.

There was a sound like rushing air, and a child slightly younger than herself appeared. Nir skin and eyes were pale, nir hair was dark and messy, and ne wore a light blue pyjama set. Annie suddenly remembered that it was about three in the morning.

"You prayed for me, sibling?"

Annie steeled herself. She needed to do this. "Yes. I'm Annie, but I'm more than that. My father, he's Tom Riddle - he used to be Voldemort."

Rivkael nodded, eyes flicking to where Voldemort stood like a bodyguard behind Annie.

"He's created another to take up the mantle of Voldemort." Annie indicated Voldemort behind her. "But he says he must die. There's no free will in the equation, he just built a human to be killed at a specified time. I want to help him, to let him be free."

Rivkael's eyes flashed white for a second at the news. "I warned him that no good would come of splitting from his human life, especially because of the prophecy, but to mess with free will like that..." ne trailed off angrily. "Oh, brother, you have _misstepped_."

The air was suddenly hot and cold at the same time, and it was as though the very particles that made up the universe were charged with power.

(Mîkhā'ēl vacated the premises. Despite loving his daughter, he was a coward. (With good reason, to be fair. ) And when Riqa is mad at you, you _fly_.)

"I was hoping you could take me to my Hogwarts sometime, so that I can reclaim myself." Annie pushed in. "Then I'd be able to help him properly."

Rivkael tilted nir head to the side mischievously, all anger gone as fast as it had arrived. "What if I was to give you two the bodies of siblings, age eleven, so you could attend Hogwarts yourselves?" Ne asked, grinning. "Anything to ruffle Mîka's feathers. He's been pissing me off lately but this is the last straw."

Annie looked at Voldemort. He looked back at her. "The name Tom is inconspicuous enough." He shrugged nonchalantly, but they could tell he was interested. "Just choose a different surname. It'll be a chance to... make myself."

"Thomas or Tomlyn or Tommo?" Rivkael asked immediately, rubbing nir hands together. "And you - Annie - come up with a new name and look for yourself. I understand you've already encountered Dumbledore's Order, you'll have to look different too." Ne laughed, quietly. "This is going to be _fun_!"

"I prefer Tomlyn." Voldemort put in. "And maybe the surname should refer to angels."

Annie giggled. "You're getting into it, now!" She said delightedly. "Angelus? Engel? Angelo? Angeli?"

"Well, if he's going with Thomas then it ought to be Engel, if only to stick with the English theme." Rivkael commented. "How do you think you want to look?"

Annie had been turning things over in her head. "Can I see how I would look as both a child and an adult?" She asked. "I don't want something that looks cute now but will be awfully annoying later."

Rivkael frowned slightly. "Vanitas, vanitatum." ne chided. "Omnis Vanitas."

Annie squinted. "All is Vanity? Oops, yeah. Sorry, but looks _are_ important. They give a first impression." She argued. "Can I end up a little bit taller, and have, uh, light brown hair, a bit wavier than mine is now, and... blue eyes... hmm." Rivkael snapped up a full sized mirror for her, then put one hand on Annie's shoulder.

As Annie watched, she grew a few inches taller, and a bit skinnier, losing almost everything at the hips and bust. Her hair lightened, her eyes brightened, and her skin switched to a slightly darker shade. Her lips thickened slightly, and her nose narrowed as her cheekbones and jaw rounded. She didn't recognise herself.

Rivkael whistled. "You sure on this? I can change it up..."

"Green eyes." Tom demanded, standing beside the two of then. "And freckles. Make her a little shorter and her hair thicker and shorter, like - can you read thoughts?"

"Yeah, that's easy." Rivkael reached out with two fingers towards his forehead.

"Hey!" Annie caught Rivkael's hand. "He's not got a full soul, just thought you should know before you touch him." She said quickly, then released nem.

"How...?" Rivkael questioned, then shook nir head. "Magic. I should stop being surprised."

Ne touched nir fingers to Tom's temple, and then nodded. "I see the hair thing."

Annie's hair shortened until it was more of a boy's style, flicked to one side. The other changes Tom had demanded also appeared. Looking in the mirror, she wasn't sure if she saw a boy or a girl.

She felt dizzy. There was something catching in her throat. She swallowed. The boy in the mirror was fighting back tears, leaning into nir sibling's grip like it was a lifeline.

"Thomas, could you give us a moment?" Rivkael said quietly, tone serious but gentle. Ne quickly escorted him to the door (with the parting words, "look up 'transgender disorder' somewhere muggle.") and then came back to Annie. "Are you alright?"

Annie nodded, wiping at her eyes. "I don't know what it is..." she said quietly. "I just saw myself as a boy and it just opened something inside me that's never been opened."

Rivkael walked around to face Annie from the front. "It's okay to feel that way." ne said gently. "It has a name - it will have, anyway. In ten years from now, even muggles will be widely aware of it."

"It's never happened before." Annie choked, clenching her fists. "Why? I'm not, I'm. I mean-"

"What you're feeling right now is correctly called Gender Dysphoria." Rivkael said softly. "I thought you wouldn't get it, being that the angel you are is genderless, like me, but it seems I was wrong. Your soul is in conflict with your body - how has your father not noticed this? Ugh, Mîka..."

"Da loves me. He probably wanted me to see it for myself." Annie argued, then stopped. "What is... it?"

Rivkael put nir hands on Annie's arms. "Your soul is currently rather masculine, though I can sense fluctuations." ne said. "Your body is female, but your mind and consciousness are gender-fluid, leaning masculine, by the look of it."

"I'm not a girl?" And the dam broke. Things Annie didn't even know she was holding back came flooding forwards, and suddenly she was crying in Rivkael's arms. "I'm a boy, I'm not a girl." it sounded so _right_. Annie didn't know what to do.

 _He_ didn't know what to do, how to thank Rivkael. "Thankyouthankyou-"

"Little brother." Rivkael said sweetly. "You're fine. I'm here. Cry as much as you need to."

And as Annie cried on nir lap, he felt his body shift again, and he felt his breasts vanish to leave a smooth, flat chest and narrow hips. He didn't grow anything... down there, though. But that was okay. It was more than enough.


	10. if you love me let me go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't fucking resist.
> 
> Annie is now Leonis (Lee, with they/them pronouns) because 'Ariel' means 'lion of god', and Riqa found out who they were by visiting their tree. Leonis is a greek name derived from the word for lion - 'leo'.
> 
> Also, Harry and Cho are dating here, cause Lily's been in Harry's life since third year, and has been teaching him Some Shit and now he's less oblivious and a lot more sensitive, and he managed to ask her to the ball before Cedric did. (*Credit by Meghan Trainor plays*)
> 
> ALSO, Luna is Jesus (omnibenevolent, can cause miracles, can See a lot), her dad is The Father (omnipotent) and her mum is the Holy Spirit (omnipresent, duh). They're all mentally linked, they can all pause time, Speak in Tongues and See parts of the future and past. Only Xeno can Create, only Luna can cause biblical-scale miracles for humanity, and only Pandora knows everything, everywhen, everywhere, but they can all communicate any time and have perfect recall. It's weird.
> 
> PRONOUNS RECAP;  
> •Leonis/Lee (Annie) - they/them (ne/nem when angeled up)  
> •Tomlyn (mîka clone, Tom) - He/him  
> •Sammael/Sam - prefers no pronouns, but if pressed will choose he/him  
> •Raphael/Raph/Raffy - they/he/she, prefers they  
> •Rivkael/Riqa/Lily - ne/nem  
> •Luna - She/her  
> •Gabriel/Gabby/Gabs/Loki - She/her (he/him when Loki)  
> •Mîkhā'ēl/Mîka/Michael - He/him (wants to go back to ne/nem but hasn't yet)  
> •Draco Malfoy - he/him.

"I love you, Da." They stretched up to kiss him on the cheek, standing on their tiptoes. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I love you too." He'd agreed somewhat reluctantly to the whole affair, and only because Rivkael was still attending Hogwarts and Raphael and Sammael were supposedly due to start this year. Also he'd been threatened, but they liked to think he would've agreed anyway.

"Lee, come on!" Leonis turned away, following the voice to where their pseudo-bro waited. "We need to get on the train!" Tomlyn was waiting by a carriage door, holding his owl's cage in one hand and Leonis' cat carrier in the other.

Rivkael put a hand on Mîkhā'ēl's arm. "They'll be fine, Mîka." ne said gently. "I'll be there, Sammy and Raph will be there too. Are you _sure_ -"

"Yes. I don't want to come!" He replied quietly, quickly. "I can't, Riqa. I - not yet. I just... I can't."

Riqa hugged him, wrapping nir warm arms around his waist. "I understand. You call on any of us if you're feeling down, okay? Father is here too, he will hear your prayers."

Mîkhā'ēl nodded silently, holding tightly to his sibling, pressing his depleted wings against nir vibrant ones. " **I love you**." he whispered.

Riqa leaned back to look into his dark eyes. "Love you too, brother." Ne said easily. "Seriously, call if you need _anything_."

"I will." he said, releasing nem from the hug as the train whistle blew. "Goodbye!"

"Bye bro!" Ne laughed as ne ran to the train and climbed aboard, and then bumped straight back into Leonis.

"Riqa, can you locate Sammy and Raph?"

Ne nodded. "Good idea." Ne reached across the train. "Yeah, this way."

Tom handed the cat carrier to Leonis, who held it up and peered in as they began pushing through the train. "You okay in there, Hera?" There wasn't a reply, but then, Hera _was_ just a cat.

Riqa led them to a compartment half-full of people about nir vessel's age, plus two identical blond-haired kids closer size-wise to how Tom and Leonis looked.

"Lily!" This was Riqa's human name. "Come on in, bring your friends." The one who had spoken was another blond, holding a brightly-coloured magazine. The other people in the compartment were Harry, Ginny, and a dark haired, pale skinned boy holding a cactus.

It wasn't surprising that Tom moved before Leonis did - he didn't have to pretend he hadn't met these people before. "I'm Tomlyn Engel, and this is my twin, Leonis." He pulled Leonis into the compartment after Riqa, and pushed them both into seats.

"Call me Lee." Leonis quickly put in.

"Nice to meet you," the boy with the cactus replied, just as the train began to move. "I'm Neville, this is Luna, Harry and Ginny, and... we weren't introduced?" he turned to the small blond twins Leonis and Tom had sat opposite to. Leonis noticed they were holding hands tightly.

"I'm Sam." the one on the left replied, "And this is Ra. Luna's our sister."

Riqa suddenly stood and then knelt before the two of them, grabbing at their hands and holding tight, love and desperation clear in nir face. "Sammy, Raph. It's me, it's Riqa."

"What's that, Lily?" Ginny asked, but the angels were in a bubble of their own. Luna shook her head at her friends, catching Ginny by the arm when she tried to stand. "This needs to happen. Heaven can't wait - not this time."

"Heaven? What's happening?" Harry asked, watching the group. Sam had slid to the floor in order to hug Lily properly, and Ra was holding Lily's face in his hands, smiling. Lee was kneeling behind the three, face and body pressed against Lily's back. Tom was rubbing his twin's shoulder and back, whispering in their ear. Somehow it was obvious that Tom wasn't really part of the group.

Then Luna began speaking a language Harry didn't know, couldn't begin to recognise. " **Children**." The way they suddenly all turned to look at her as one was eerie.

Lily's face suddenly twisted into tears, and Neville had to move back as ne launched nemself across the room to land in Luna's open arms. " **It's okay, it's okay**." Luna crooned gently, rubbing Lily's back as ne began full on sobbing. " **I'm the Son. I am one of three. You're all doing amazing. Fantastic. We love you so, so much.** " The rest of the kids (except Tom, who looked kind of lost, retreating to his seat) approached Luna and Lily with awe in their faces, Leonis especially. Sam and Ra looked like they knew this was coming, but that didn't make them any less appreciative. " **I'm so sorry you had to go through what you did. You're okay.** "

" **You didn't say you'd- you'd be-** ** _here_** **!** " Lily cried in that same language, voice muffled in Luna's cardigan. The loneliness in nir voice, the sadness, was shocking. " **Why didn't you tell us? Why haven't I seen you? I missed you so much! We all... I love you. Thank you for being here, thank you so much**."

Harry didn't think he'd ever heard nem speak to much in one go, excepting when ne was explaining nir pronouns to people. Ne didn't talk much. He glanced over the the still open compartment door, and was surprised to see Cho standing there, staring at the strange scene. He quickly slid to his feet and entered to corridor, greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. "Luna just said they had to. It looks serious."

"Ron and Hermione both had prefect duty, right?" she asked, brushing it off. "Why didn't you come look for me?"

"Ginny dragged me along - she's a Chaser, I'll have you know!" he said playfully as his girlfriend frowned. "The strength in that girl is downright ridiculous. Besides, we literally only just got on the train. Don't worry, you've got me for about," he glanced into the compartment. "Make that at least, half an hour."

She giggled, and began pulling him down the train. "Come on Harry, you can explain the unclassified parts of your summer, and I'll explain the unclassified bits of mine."

\---

"Earl, David." Professor McGonagall, a tall witch wearing dark green, called. A scruffy-looking boy with blond hair hurried to the stool, where the sorting hat (get that, a talking hat!) was lowered onto his head.

A few seconds later, the hat's 'mouth' opened, and "GRYFFINDOR!" was announced. The table of people with red ties burst into applause, and David stumbled over to an empty seat.

Lee glanced at Tom, who was staring at the magic ceiling. "Tom, we're up." they poked him, just as McGonagall called their name. "Engel, Leonis."

Leonis let go of Tom's hand, and carefully climbed the steps to the stool, where they quickly sat.

"Goodness, another? Mx Moon must be pleased." A voice spoke in their ear. "Mx Engel, this is _not_ a hard choice. It is a great honour to be able to see your mind. RAVENCLAW!"

Leonis grinned as the hat was pulled off their head, and they quickly made their way to the Ravenclaw table, where Luna and Riqa had saved an area.

Luna patted them gently on the hair as Tom was called up. "You did good." She whispered, putting her arm around their shoulders and turning to watch Tom get sorted.

"SL-" the hat stopped. "RAVENCLAW!"

Lee snorted. "That's my Tommy." They said quietly, as Tom approached and flung himself down next to them, an excited expression on his face.

The sorting continued, and eventually they reached the other two archangels. "Lovegood, Raphael."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Lovegood, Sammael."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Luna clapped easily for them as they slid into place, one after the other. "They're going to be fine." She nodded, apparently satisfied. The sorting was soon completed. Dumbledore began to make a silly speech, but then a woman dressed head to toe in pink interrupted him. By the looks on everyones' faces, this wasn't how thing normally went.

Her name was Madam Umbridge, _Professor_ Umbridge. Their defence against the dark arts teacher. Tom snorted and poked his fake twin. "She's a ministry flunky." He said. "She'll likely be strict, by what she's saying. We'll have to keep our heads down in her lessons - I've heard stories about her, she's a nasty piece of work."

They nodded thoughtfully. There was something weird about the woman. A strange shadow seemed to be flickering over her, giving her face a monstrous look. They glanced at Luna. "There's something hell-y."

Luna nodded, before looking at them both sternly. "She's made a deal with a demon, by the looks of it. Don't draw attention to yourselves, I doubt either of you could handle a demon right now. Stick with Sam and Ra when you can - they've got the knowledge and sight, and can smite if the need arises."

"How are we supposed to get to my tree now?" Leonis asked, disappointed. "If she's so strict."

"We'll go tonight." Rivkael decided suddenly. "The sooner this is sorted out, the better. I'll build a temporary double to go round with Tom for a week or so. Is that okay?"

Lee frowned at nem. "It wouldn't happen to be a _fully_ _conscious_ _and_ _autonomous_ double, would it?" They asked, with a not very subtle indication to Tom, who was frowning too.

Riqa shook nir head. "No way. It'll be an imprint of all your memories, like a computer. Essentially," ne explained further at the blank looks. "It looks at your memories and pulls the most appropriate response from them, considering the situation. I has no real awareness, it'd just be going through the motions, as it were."

Luna nodded at the plan. "It sounds like fun." she said airily just as Umbridge finished her speech. There was a smattering of applause, and then awkward silence as the pink-clad witch retreated to her seat.

Dumbledore said a thing, did a thing, then food appeared. They all dug in as lively chattering began, occasionally stopping for hugs or to run over to Sam and Ra to tell them something.

After the meal had ended, Riqa pulled the whole group into a classroom. "Right, I'm taking Leonis to get their Grace tonight, because I do not trust that Umbridge woman. Tom, Luna will get you settled, but she does get bullied, so be on your guard in case any older girls try to harass you. Don't attack them with anything higher than second year spells." ne said sternly. Tom nodded. "Sammy and Raph. I really don't know much about Hufflepuff, but one of the prefects saw me grab you and is waiting outside the door to take you to the common room. You should be fine, but if you need anything, you can shoot Mîka or Luna a prayer. They _will_ show. Lee," ne turned to nir little sibling, and pressed two fingers to their forehead.

There was a swirl of grace, and two new people suddenly stood in the room. Lily Moon and Leonis Engel smiled awkwardly.

Riqa handed Lily nir wand and gestured to Lee to do the same with theirs. "You're both immune to truth serums and legimency, and you can cut yourself off from your body if it gets too painful for some reason. _Do not engage the demon._ It will think you're just regular humans, but will be able to see the difference at close range. You have the Sight and the Senses to avoid it."

"Wait!" Lee jumped forwards, and pulled their double close. "You're NOT to do the fidget." They said sternly. "It would be disastrous. Remember that." The double nodded seriously, fiddling with their wand, and Lee stepped back towards Riqa.

Ne waved to the group as a collective and put a hand on Leonis' shoulder. "Goodnight, you lot." And ne flew.


	11. i'm stuck self torturing (my eyes are stapled open)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning; sudden, violent death and it's aftermath

Leonis was hardly aware of the landing, even though it made their knees nearly buckle. Their gaze was fixed on the tree - a willow, that seemed to be waving its branches around wildly.

"Yours is the only one that managed sentience." Riqa said from behind nem.

Lee wondered why for a moment, then heard nir voice in their mind, " **A FALLEN IS ABOUT TO RECLAIM THEIR GRACE WITH DEMONS NEARBY. DO NOT APPROACH, I'VE GOT IT COVERED.** " Ne yelled without using nir lips, and it was like the sound came from inside Lee's head.

They took a step towards the tree, then another, then another. The tree's branches were reaching for them. There was a tingling under their skin as they reached for the shifting wood, the rustling leaves. They touched it, and for a moment, that was all it was-

Then the tree grabbed them and pulled them in close, setting them down right next to the trunk. Riqa let out a sound of alarm, but Leonis was already reaching for the wood.

And then-

Light-

The world _tilted-_

It was _bright_ and _beautiful_ and _so much more-_

_Ne remembered nir birth. Ne remembered things, places, angels, heaven, a bookshop-_

_Nir wings were s t r a i n i n g_

Suddenly, ne was burning. **_Yellow feathers going up in smoke-_**

Riqa started forwards in horror, calling out blindly for help.

**_Bones crunching, grace pooling like blood on the floor, gaps where there should not be gaps-_ **

"Sibling! **SIBLING!** "

**_"Say hi for me, eh?"_ **

" **ARIEL!** "

"Why is ne on _fire?!_ "

"I have no clue! **HELP ME!** "

**_Burning, scorching, parts vanishing, growing smaller and smaller and smaller-_ **

" **It's not working!** "

"LEONIS! **_ARIEL!_** "

" **Ariel, please hold on!** "

**_Pure, unadulterated pain and then blessed darkness._ ** ****

A cold breeze blew a few glowing ashes into the air, and they watched them burn out, hypnotised. Mîkhā'ēl was the first to snap out of it.

"What." He said dully, falling to his knees, staring at the charred stump that used to be a tree, the charred spot that used to hold a child, _his_ child. "No... no." Mîka shook his head, blinking wildly.

" **This wasn't supposed to happen**!" Riqa cried in horror.

Sammy and Raph were there too, clutching Luna's hands, staring with wide, teary eyes that held afterimages of holy fire.

It was Gabriel who stepped up to the ashen spot, and knelt there, bowing her head. " **Ari didn't deserve that - no angel deserved that. Dad,** " she turned to Luna, who was pale and trembling. " **Is there anything-?** "

Luna shook her head. Even her voice was shaking. " **I'm just the Son. Angels aren't my jurisdiction. That was a demonic spell, and it was already half-completed. Even the Father couldn't get here fast enough, and we have to combine in order to freeze time and stop a death. It's too late now. Ne could be put back together, but that would take time and ne would be a fledgeling to be raised once again - no memories. The memories from the double are inaccessible too.** " She added, making fists so tight her hands ached. " **How could we let this happen?** "

Riqa let out a low moan, wings pulling in to nir body, shivering wildly. " **I did this**." Ne whispered, and turned an began stumbling away towards the lake, only stopping when the water was up to nir waist and nir clothes were soaked. " **My fault, all my fault**." Ne groaned quietly, standing perfectly still, barely in nir vessel.

Mîka reached out with his wings and took off, sailing his to home as fast as he could go. The song trailing behind him was one of complete agony, of loneliness, of grief.

Sam released Luna, and headed to Gabriel's side to hug her tight, their wings tangling together as they each took comfort from the other.

And Raphael? They stood up purposefully from where they'd fallen, and took Luna's hand. "Tom." They said gently.

No other words were needed. The two were gone in a flash of Will and appeared silently beside Tom.

Tom had been chatting with Leonis and Lily, the doubles, in his dorm room, but all three of them sprang up at the entrance.

"What happened?" Tom demanded immediately, noticing the tears and stances, the paleness of skin. "Is Lee okay?"

"Ariel. Lee was Ariel the whole time." Raphael said. " _Ariel_."

"Was?" Tom shook his head, surely not... "Guys, talk to me." He said nervously when they didn't speak.

"They're dead." Luna said blankly. "They were always living on borrowed time, _always_ , and their grace was the bomb."

"Dead? How? _How? Tell the truth!_ " It slipped out in his horror before he could stop it, and he hid his face in his hands. Leonis and Lily had been watching, shocked, but now Leonis came and engulfed Tom in a hug as he began sobbing. "Merlin, please, tell me it's not true, please. No, please-"

"I'm sorry, Tom." Raphael whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Lily sidled up to Luna. "Rivkael will go to Draco. May I be discorporated?" Riqa's double had been built able to feel where the archangel would go and what ne would do.

Luna did it absently, staring hard at Leonis as they comforted Tom gently. _Could_ she access the memories through Leonis?

"Don't you dare." Leonis warned. "There's too much time warping around them for it to be safe for them. I won't let you." They said. "Don't even _think_ about it. You can't mess with time, they lived within it."

Luna sighed. Leonis was right.

Down in the dungeons, Riqa knocked on the door to the Slytherin common room. A prefect opened it, and rolled her eyes when she saw who it was. "You're looking for Malfoy, I guess? By the bookshelf." She pointed to where Malfoy sat, reading.

Riqa practically flung nemself into his lap, desperate for the comfort he always offered. "Hey, Lily." he greeted her gently, pulling nem into a tight hug as ne began crying quietly. "What's wrong? Can I help?" he asked, directing Crabbe and Goyle to sit either side of the pair with his eyes so they'd get some privacy.

Ne just buried nir face in his robes, holding him tightly. He rubbed her back gently, resigning himself to asking when ne was less distraught. Blaise Zabini, who he'd been talking to before Lily turned up, took out his wand and erected a silencing ward around the area the two were sitting, before offering Draco a smile, and ambling away.

"They're dead." Lily mumbled quietly. "Little Leonis is dead." Draco wasn't sure he'd heard right.

"Leonis, as in the kid at the sorting? Dead?" He said, horrified. "How?"

"My fault." Lily moaned out quietly. "Should've realised."

"Could you have realised?" Draco asked gently. "Don't blame yourself."

Lily surrendered nemself to tears, weeping nir heart out against his chest as ne cried for the younger child. There wasn't a way to get them back. Not the way they were.

It was too late.


End file.
